Iraqi Hizbollah Party leader Osama bin Hussein
became the first democratically elected President of Iraq yesterday in
an internationally monitored election in which 78% of the Iraqi people
participated.

President-elect bin Hussein, a Shi’a
Muslim from Basra with close ties to Iran, attributed his victory to the
overwhelming majority of Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq.

“From this day forward,” bin Hussein announced,
“Sharia law will replace the corrupt Western regime, and Iraq will
become a model Islamic republic.”

One of the Iraqi President's first acts is
expected to be the nationalization of the oil industry, to be run “for
the benefit of the Iraqi people rather than transnational corporations.”

US President Bush said that, although he
had not supported bin Hussein, he was “gratified” that democracy
had “taken root” in Iraq, adding that American companies would
soon begin turning over management of the oil resources to the new Iraq
government.

“Americans can be proud,” Bush
said, “that after the terrible loss of American lives, and the billions
of dollars of our taxpayers money, the fate of the Iraqi people will now
be decided by the Iraqi majority, without foreign interference.”